Kansas Agencies Co-location to Improve Stakeholder Experience

Steven Rains - July 22, 2019 6:15 pm

Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary Laura Howard and Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman, M.D. today announced a new partnership designed to improve efficiencies and expand the reach of both agencies.

KDHE eligibility employees will now be co-located in 17 DCF offices across the state to foster collaboration around the KanCare application process for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Elderly and disabled KanCare applications are among the most complex. For many years, processing of these applications has been privatized. The process is now brought back in to KDHE. Under the new partnership, KDHE employees will initially spend most of their time processing Home and Community Based Service applications.

They also will be available to work with DCF staff on complicated cases. Once the full transition is complete in mid-2020, it is expected that KDHE staff will be able to meet face to face with Kansans who need help navigating the KanCare application process.

KDHE employees will move into the Hays and Wichita offices the week of July 22. Other offices that will have KDHE employees include:

Kansas City and Overland Park in August

Emporia, Great Bend and Newton in September

Manhattan and Pittsburg in October

Atchison, Chanute and Salina in November

Dodge City, Garden City, Hutchinson and Liberal inDecember

Independence in Jan. 2020

As more KDHE staff are hired, the agencies plan to expand to other DCF offices that have available space.